86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBuU. 179 



Hugh Jones, of tlie University of Nebraska and Brigham Young 

 University, respectively. 



Cooperation and kindnesses extended by the State Historical So- 

 ciety of Iowa, by the personnel of Macbride State Park, by Eugene 

 Crosheck and Leo Harapat, and by Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Adams, 

 of Solon, are gratefully acknowledged. In addition, we feel a dis- 

 tinct obligation to Dr. Theodore E. "White, paleontologist, National 

 Park Service; to Dr. Norton H. Nickerson, Department of Botany, 

 Cornell University; and to Dr. Joseph P. E. Morrison, associate 

 curator. Division of MoUusks, U.S. National Museum, who generously 

 provided identifications of nonartif act materials from the sites. 



Prehistorically, the State of Iowa, in its strategic geographical 

 position between the well-documented horizons of the Mississippi 

 Valley and the increasingly significant Plains area, remains, to a 

 degree, an archeological hiatus. The far-ranging surveys of Keyes 

 (1942, 1951) and the more intensive analysis of Mott (1938) have 

 provided some basis for a preliminary statement of the problem. 

 Euppe (1955 a, b, c) has suggested the presence of Oneota, Wood- 

 land, Archaic, and possibly Paleo-Indian elements. Local and re- 

 gional analyses offered by Beaubien (1953, a, b) and Logan (1955) 

 have added significant information, but as yet no definitive synthesis 

 has been outlined. Data resulting from the River Basin Surveys in- 

 vestigations are unfortunately scanty. Comparative analysis in terms 

 of such a small sample, is markedly tenuous. It seems desirable, 

 nonetheless, to present a series of brief analytical statements, phrased 

 largely in terms of suggested relationships, as a building block for 

 more mature synthesis in the future. 



THE CORALVILLE RESERVOIR: THE SETTING 



The Coralville Dam and Reservoir have been constructed under 

 provisions of Section 4 of the Flood Control Act of 28 June 1938 

 as a flood-control project under the immediate supervision of the 

 Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District. The dam, an earth em- 

 bankment structure 1,400 feet in length and approximately 100 feet 

 in height, provides for a maximum pool of 492,000 acre-feet, reach- 

 ing a maximum length of 41.5 river miles. The current investiga- 

 tions, confined substantially to the conservation pool, extended from 

 the dam site, 5 river miles north of Iowa City, north and east to the 

 vicinity of Curtis. All sites excavated fell within Newport Town- 

 ship, Johnson County, Iowa. All legal definitions are based upon 

 county and township plats, 1953 and 1956. 



The Iowa River has its origin in north-central Iowa, following a 

 meandering southeasterly course to join the Mississippi River ap- 

 proximately 20 miles south of Muscatine, Iowa. In the lower or 

 conservation pool area the river is deeply intrenched in the Iowa 



